Weft nipper for circular loom

ABSTRACT

Weft nipper for a circular loom comprising an oscillating arm overhanging the path of the weft-drawing devices, said oscillating arm carrying, at its end, a gripping means actuated through a scissors device carried by said oscillating arm, by a rod fixed to a slide contacting an oscillating cam pivoted on a fixed support.

United States Patent [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1968Payne..1........................

[72] inventor Armand Malchair Herstal, Belgium [21 Appl. No. 827,588

[22] Filed May 26, 1969 [45] Patented Sept. 14, 1971 [73] AssigneePeltzer & Fils S.A. societe anonyme Verviers, Belgium [32] Priority May30, 1968 [33] Belgium ABSTRACT: Weft nipper for a circular loomcomprising an M 0 0 L R A L w mm F m FW m D u mm h C W5 4 b oscillatingarm overhanging the path of the weft-drawing [521 (LS. 139/13 i saidOscillating arm y g, at its a pp g 003d 37/00 means actuated through ascissors device carried by said oscil- [50] Field of 139/13- lating arm,by a rod fixed to a slide contacting an oscillating cam pivoted on afixed support.

PATENTED SEP14l97| 3,604,467

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PATENTEUSEPI 419m 3,604,467

" sum 2 or 8 Ale/14w cm A? INVENTOR.

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WEFI NIPPER FOR CIRCULAR LOOM In my US. Pat. No. 3,422,858, I havedisclosed a new device for circular looms, intended for bringing theweft threads, in accordance with the fabrics being made, into thetrajectory of weft-drawing devices moving circularly and bringing thepicks in the correct lengths and at the correct positions into thesuccessive sheds. Such weft nipper is fed with weft threads by aselecting device in accordance with the fabrics being manufactured.

The weft nipper forming the object of the said patent comprisessubstantially the combination of a support in the form of a crosspieceextended by an oscillating arm overlapping the path of the weft-drawingdevices, said oscillating arm carrying endwise a gripping device proper.The support in the form of a crosspiece carries the mechanism inducingthe oscillating movements ofthe oscillating arm, while the lattercarries the mechanism inducing the closing or the opening movement ofthe jaws of the gripping device. The latter comprises a vertical tubularguide engaged by two telescopic rods each terminated at their lower endsby a jaw, said telescopic rods engaging upwardly a scissors deviceactuated according to said patent by an electromagnet the circuit ofwhich was controlled by the combination of a photoelectric cell, anenergizing lamp and a screen carried by the rotating equipment of theloom.

Owing to the continuously increasing performances of the so equippedloom, it has been practically observed that some difficulties couldarise with such electromechanical control mechanism, principally inconsideration of the response time of the electromagnets, said timevarying additionally in a rather substantial manner from oneelectromagnet to the other.

It is an object of the present invention to prevent such drawbacks byproviding a purely mechanical system for actuating said jaws, saidsystem being perfectly synchronized with the angular shiftings of saidoscillating arm.

Said system may be defined as a system comprising the combination of aslide moving in a guide integral with said oscillating arm, a rodconnecting said slide with said scissors device acting upon saidtelescoping rods, a finger integral with said slide, an oscillating campivoted on said stationary support and resilient means acting upon saidslide so that said finger may follow the profile of the oscillating camduring the angular shiftings of said oscillating arm.

The features and the advantages of the present invention will be moreapparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof givenby way of illustration and without any limitation, reference being madeto the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic plane view of a circular loom having three weavingstations each equipped with a weft nipper according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a radial half section on the line II--II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plane view of the weft nipper indicated at F inFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the portion indicated at F, in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a section along the line V-V of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the head of the weft nipper indicated atF, in FIG. 5;

FIGS 7, 8 and 9 represent sections respectively along the lines VII-VII,VIII-VIII and lX-IX of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the portion indicated at F in FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 is a vertical section according to the arrow F in FIG. 10;

FIGS. 12 to 15 represent sections respectively along the lines XVI-XVIto XXII-XXII of FIG. 10.

In FIGS. 1 and-2, there are shown, in a summary way, the essentialelements of the loom using the weft-nipping device according to theinvention, indicated at F3, namely the main frame 1, the beams 2, thesheets of warp threads 3, the heddle frame units 4, the-selector 5, theweft nippers 6, the drawing rollers 7, the rotating equipment 8 and itsgeneral driving mechanism 9.

The main frame 1 will be arranged according to the number of sectionsforming, in a sense, a complete weaving unit, in the present case three,enabling three fabrics to be woven independently of each other and of aquality and in designs which may be the same or different.

This main frame will also be arranged so as to be able to carry in aperfectly stable manner all the fixed and moving elements of the loom aswell as the beams and the fabric, with their respective unwindingand-winding mechanism. There is also shown, supported upon said mainframe 1 an annular platform 10, enabling the loom to be permanentlyoverseen, and permitting easy access to its principal mechanisms.

The beams 2 will be arranged in the conventional manner on drums thatcan be readily engaged and disengaged respectively from their support,shown diagrammatically at 11, these supports as well as the unwindingmechanisms (not shown) for the beams being also known per se.

The sheets 3 of warp threads are, in the present case, returned byreturn drums and support elements 12-13-14-15- 16, such that said warpthreads always have a practically constant tension. The warp threadsthen pass into the shed device shown schematically at 4, and operated bya suitable heald mechanism (not shown).

The weft-drawing device shown schematically at 6 moves in the shed,after which the fabric is compressed and feeds the winder 7 in knownmanner. Such a combination forming, as it were, a loom in itself, ispositioned around the longitudinal axis of the loom in a symmetricalmanner, and there is maintained between them a gap in which are arrangedthe mechanisms of the selectors, the weft nipper, the selvedgeformingunit and the other auxiliary devices. In the example shown schematicallyin FIGS. 1 and 2, the circular loom has been divided into six angularzones covering, alternatively, a zone of 30 and indicated at A and B inFIG. 1. The zones A correspond to the selecting and preparing zones forthe weft threads, while the zones B correspond to the weaving zonesproper.

The object of the invention concerns more particularly the weft-nippingdevice shown schematically at F3 and also being positioned in said zonesA.

This weft-nipping device comprises two essential parts: on the one hand,a crosspiece 17, with its mechanism for imparting alternative angularmovements, and the gripping head 18 mounted at the end of saidcrosspiece. The crosspiece 17 is, in this case, comprised of a profiledhorizontal arm 19 carried, by the bolts 20, on the main frame 1 of theloom (FIGS. 3 and 5.

Towards its rear end, as best shown in FIG. 5, this arm is traversed bya vertical shaft 21 supported on roller bearings 22 and extending beyondthe upper plane of said arm and carrying on this projecting portion apulley 23 the hub of which butts against a cap 24 fixed to said shaft21, in this instance by a screw 25. The pulley 23 which is hollow,contains a spiral return spring 26, one end of which is fixed at 27 tosaid pulley, while the other end is fixed to a pin 28, integral withsaid arm 19. The shaft 21 is connected by a sleeve 29 and a key 29' heldby screws 30 to a second lower coaxial shaft 31. The latter at its lowerend is mounted on a roller bearing 32, housed in the correspondingportion of a tubular support 33 fixed, by any appropriate means, to asmall crosspiece 34, which is itself connected firmly to the main frame1 of the loom by means of screws 35. On the lower projecting end of theshaft 31, there is keyed, by means of a pin 36, a lever made up of twoparts 37-35 interconnected by a screw 39, in an arrangement such thatthe length of this lever is fully adjustable. The free end of the latterserves as a bearing for the shaft 40 of a roller 41, said shaft beingheld in position by a screw 42. This roller is permanently urged by theaction of said spiral spring 26against a cam 43 integral with therotating equipment 8. This cam 43 can either be developed right aroundsaid rotating equipment 8, in the present case in the form of 12identical and equidistant protuberances, or there can be fitted on saidmoving equipment 8 twelve separate cams which are, however, also of thesame profile and equidistant from each other.

The above-mentioned pulley 23 may also, for the conditions of control,be formed in two parts joined together by screws 44 in such manner thatthe two parts constituting the pulley can be adjusted angularly.

At the other end of the above-mentioned profiled arm 19 there is fixed,by a screw 45, a shaft 46 extending upwards. On its projecting partthere is supported, through the intermediary of roller bearings 47, apulley 48 of the same diameter as the above-mentioned pulley 23. Thispulley 48 is surmounted by a base 49, fixed there by bolts 50 and alsohousing roller bearings 51 upon which is supported the the upper portionof the above-mentioned shaft 46.

Finally, on the same arm 19, between said pulleys 23-48, there issecured, by means of a nut 52, a shaft 53 upon which, through rollerbearings 54, is freely supported a third pulley 55. An endless metalstrip 56 is supported on these three pulleys 23-48-55 and is fixed tothe outer pulleys by the bolts 57-58 respectively. The shaft 53 of theintermediate pulley 55 which forms, in this arrangement, a tensioningdevice, is engaged in an oblong orifice 59 cut in said arm 19, whichenables the shaft 53 to be displaced at the appropriate time, in orderto control and ensure the required tension in the endless metal strip56.

The head 18 is carried at the end of the arm 19 by the above-mentionedbase 49. This head is comprised, in the present arrangement, of an arm60, which preferably will form an integral piece with said base 49, orcan be fixed thereto. The free end of said arm 60 carries a tubularguide 61, the bore 62 of which is extended to the two ends of said guide61 by passages 63-64 respectively, of rectangular cross section. Engagedin said guide 61 by a light friction fit is a rod 65, having a Ushapedsection and having its lower end profiled in such manner as to form oneof the jaws 66 of the weft nipper, the second jaw 67 forming the lowerpart of a second rod 68 engaging gently by friction the first rod 65(FIG. 8. These two mutually interengaged rods 65-68 are simultaneouslyguided by the above-mentioned tubular element 61, as well as in theirlower projecting parts by the engagement of the two free ends of a peg69 integral with the first rod 65 in an oblong orifice 70 cut for thispurpose in the second rod 68 (see also FIG. 9).

The above-mentioned jaws 66-67 are directed forwardly or towards theoutside in relation to the overall arrangement of this weft nippermechanism. In their upper parts each of said rods 65-68 has an orifice71-72 respectively. Over a large part of its height, said rod 68 can behollowed out as shown at 73, with a view to reducing the dead weight.

In each of the above-mentioned orifices 71-72 there is engaged theprofiled end 74-75 forming part of a cranked lever 76-77 respectively.These two cranked levers are, on the other hand, engaged between the twosideplates 78-79 of a head 80 having a U-shaped section and secured, bymeans of a screw 81, to the end of a rod 82 (FIG. 4). The sideplates78-79 each have a medial oblong opening 83-84 respectively, thelongitudinal axis of which is vertically disposed, and two outer oblongopenings 85-86 and 87-88 respectively, the longitudinal axis of each ofwhich is horizontally disposed. The levers 76-77 carry near their mostadjacent parts, the ends of the shafts 88-89 respectively engaged bytheir free end in the above-mentioned medial oblong orifices 83-84. Saidhead 80 so arranged is inserted in a U-shaped support 91 fixed in theunderlying part of said arms 60 by means of a screw 92 and of pegs93-94. The support 91 has a U-section, the two limbs 95-96 of which arespaced apart by a distance very slightly in excess of the length of theshafts 89-90, in such manner that said head 80 may slide therein undergentle friction.

Opposite said outer oblong openings 85-86 and 87-88, the cranked levers76-77 are each traversed by a shaft 97-98 respectively, which aresupported on said limbs 95-96.

The other end of the actuating lever 82 is screwed in a slide 99shifting in a slide-way 100 screwed through its lower face 101 on saidbase 49 by means of screws l02 and 103. This slide 99 is extended by arod 104 provided with a collar 105 and extending between the legs 106and 107 (FIG. 20) of a second slide 108 which is also housed in saidslideway The relative movements between said two slides are limited byprojections 109 and 110 at the ends of said legs 106 and 107respectively forming stops for the collar 105. The legs 106 and 107 haveeach near the latter a shoulder 112 and 113 respec-' tively. Theshifting of theslide 99 towards the slide 108 is controlled by a spring114 (F IG.'21) surrounding said rod 104 and bearing upon collar andshould 112 and 113. Projections 109 and serve as an abutment for thecollar 105 to limit the travel of slides 99 and 108 away from eachother. The projections form a part of the slide 108. I I

The pressure for closing the jaws 66 and 67 may be adjusted by means ofa spring 1 15 surrounding rod 82 and bearing upon slide 99 as well asupon the annular base of a plug 116 traversed axially by rod 82 andscrewed in a projection 117 of base 101 of said slide-way 100 (see alsoFIG. 16).

In order to prevent the slide 99 from getting out from the slideway 100,there is provided a stop consisting of two fingers 118 and 119 and asmall plate 120 screwed on the base 101 of the slideway through screws121 and 122 (FIGS. 10 and 16). The spring 114 is stronger than thespring 115. The shoulders 112 and 113 serve as a bearing surface for thespring 114. They also form a part of the slide 108. The fingers 118 and1 l9 prevent the slide 99 from leaving the slideway 100 (together withplate 120). They form a part of the slideway 100.

At its rear end, i.e. the farthest from slide 99, the slide 108 isprovided with a rod 123 extending vertically downwardly in the housing1240f a case 125. The brackets 126 and 127 of the latter are securedthrough screws 128 and 129 on a plate 130 carried by said profiled arm19 (FIGS. 10, l 1 and 12).

The bottom 131 of the housing 124 has a recess 132 (FIG. 15) in thebottom of which is provided a blind hole 133 (see also FIG. 11). A pivot134 engages the latter, said pivot carrying, near its upper end, a cam135 extending in the housing 124 (FIGS. 13 and 14). The rotation of thepivot 134 is counteracted by a blade spring 136 situated in said recess132 and one end of which engages the pivot 134, the other end engaging agroove 137 provided therefor in the wall of said recess 132 (FIG. 15).Said blade maintains normally the bevelled end 138 of cam 135 against awall of the housing 124. The pivot 134 supports the cam 135 and one endof the spring 136; it may rotate or oscillate, as shown by dotted linesin FIG. 14.

The housing 124 is permanently closed by a lid 139 integral with thelower face of base 101 of the slideway 100 whatever the angular positionoccupied by the latter may be (FIGS. 10 and l 1).

The operation of the above-described device is very simple. Normally,the jaws 66 and 67 are closed, the slides 99 and 108 being at theextreme rear position in the slideway 100 as shown in FIG. 10 and therod 123 being almost applied against the wall of the housing 124 (FIGS.5 and 14) under the action of the spring 115, the closing of the jaws 66and 67 preventing however thefree contact between rod 123 and the wallof housing 124.

Assuming that said jaws are closed on a thread presented by theselecting device 5, an angular movement is imparted to the arm 60 tobring the jaws from the gripping position P1 to the presenting positionP2 (FIG. 3), thereby leading the selected weft thread to extendperpendicularly with the trajectory of the weft-drawing devices 6. Thisangular movement is obtained under the section of cam 43 upon roller 41the shifting of which drives pulley 23 and, accordingly the strip 56,the pulley 48 and the arm 60. During this angular shifting of pulley 48and, accordingly, of slideway 100, the rod 123 remains in close vicinityof the front wall of housing 124 of the fixed case 125. Near the end ofits shifting, the rod passes under the end 138 of cam 135 which isthereby lifted against the blade spring 136 as indicated in dotted linesin FIG. 14. As soon as rod 123 has passed beyond end 138 of cam 135, thelatter comes back to its initial position.

As soon as a weft-drawing device 6 has laid a certain length of picks inthe shed, an interruption in the cam 43 makes it possible to bringroller 43 back to its initial position under the action of spring 26,the jaws 66-67 being thereby brought from position P2 towards positionP1. From the outset of this shifting, the rod 123 raises progressivelyupon cam 1135,

thereby initially shifting the slides 108 and 99 together, until theslide 99 contacts the stop 118-119, the spring 114 being thencompressed, so that the slide l08 comes nearer to the slide 99. Thesimultaneous shifting of said slides opens jaws 66 and 67, whereas thesubsequent shifting of the slide 108 compensates the difference ofmovement amplitude necessary for actuating the rod 82 and the slide 108.

As soon as the rod 123 reaches the end of cam 135, the spring 1 14repels firmly the slide 108 until the projections 109 and 110 thereofengage collar 105, both slides being then repelled together by thespring 115 until the rod 123 comes in close vicinity of the front wallof the housing 124. The jaws 66 and 67 are then closed upon a weftthread presented by the selecting device 5 and they keep the rod 123spaced from the wall of the housing 124.

The respective length of the housing 124 and the cam 135 is calculatedin accordance with the angular shifting of rod 123 about shaft 46 insuch manner that the closure of the said jaws is always effected at P1and the opening thereof, at the outset of the shifting from P2 towardsP1.

The above-described mechanism, which is very simple and very compact,allows a close control of the jaws of the weft nipper, whatever theweaving speed may be. In addition, it is substantially foolproof and itoperates in perfect synchronism with the control of the oscillating arm.

It is apparent that numerous modifications may be brought to the aabove-described device without departing from the scope of the inventionas defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a circular loom having rotary equipment and weft drawing devices,a weft-nipper, means mounting said weftnipper including a crosspiecemounting at one end an oscillating arm overhanging the path of the weftdrawing devices, said oscillating arm mounting at its other end agripping means including a vertical tubular guide, two telescopic rodscarried by said tubular guide and having lower and upper ends, saidlower ends of said rods each forming a gripping jaw while said upperends of said rods engage a scissors device carried by said oscillatingarm, the improvement comprising means actuating said scissors deviceincluding a rod fixedly mounted at one end to a slide moving in a guidemounted integral with said oscillating arm, resilient means acting tourge said slide in one direction, said slide being provided with afinger, a cam pivotally mounted upon a fixed support along the path oftravel, said oscillating arm moves said finger so that said fingerfollows the profile of said cam during its movement to the oppositedirection, thereby causing said gripping jaws to move between open andclosed positions.

2. Weft nipper according to claim 1, characterized in that said slide isin two parts, namely a first slide integral with said rod and a secondslide carrying said finger, the relative movements of said both slidesbeing limited by stops.

3. Weft nipper according to claim 2, characterized in that a spring isdisposed between said slides, another spring being provided between thefirst slide and a fixed part of said guide equipped with means foradjusting the tension of said spring, the latter determining thepressure for closing the said jaws.

4. Weft nipper according to claim 1, characterized in that I the saidfinger extends in a housing of a fixed case, said oscillating campivoting near one of its ends upon bottom of the said housing and beingprovided with a return spring.

1. In a circular loom having rotary equipment and weft drawing devices,a weft-nipper, means mounting said weft-nipper including a crosspiecemounting at one end an oscillating arm overhanging the path of the weftdrawing devices, said oscillating arm mounting at its other end agripping means including a vertiCal tubular guide, two telescopic rodscarried by said tubular guide and having lower and upper ends, saidlower ends of said rods each forming a gripping jaw while said upperends of said rods engage a scissors device carried by said oscillatingarm, the improvement comprising means actuating said scissors deviceincluding a rod fixedly mounted at one end to a slide moving in a guidemounted integral with said oscillating arm, resilient means acting tourge said slide in one direction, said slide being provided with afinger, a cam pivotally mounted upon a fixed support along the path oftravel, said oscillating arm moves said finger so that said fingerfollows the profile of said cam during its movement to the oppositedirection, thereby causing said gripping jaws to move between open andclosed positions.
 2. Weft nipper according to claim 1, characterized inthat said slide is in two parts, namely a first slide integral with saidrod and a second slide carrying said finger, the relative movements ofsaid both slides being limited by stops.
 3. Weft nipper according toclaim 2, characterized in that a spring is disposed between said slides,another spring being provided between the first slide and a fixed partof said guide equipped with means for adjusting the tension of saidspring, the latter determining the pressure for closing the said jaws.4. Weft nipper according to claim 1, characterized in that the saidfinger extends in a housing of a fixed case, said oscillating campivoting near one of its ends upon bottom of the said housing and beingprovided with a return spring.
 5. Weft nipper according to claim 4,characterized in that said housing is permanently closed by a lidintegral with said oscillating arm.